The field of food additives/supplements, particularly texturizing agents, viscosity controlling agents and bulking agents is a very diverse field. Texture of a food product is an important parameter that defines its sensory parameters. In the food processing industry, in order to obtain desired texture and other desired effects such as syneresis prevention, it is often required to add certain agents, such as viscosity controlling agents. Viscosity is a very important parameter in a food product and often is defined in the specifications of the product. The analytical measure of viscosity is commonly defined in cp. However, this provides only a partial requirement, and other texture parameters are determined by organoleptic parameters. By organoleptic parameters it is meant parameters that are determined by our senses (sensory evaluation) such as taste, color, texture, mouth feel, and the like. These cannot be determined with instruments and are defined by a sensory panel. Commonly used viscosity controlling agents, e.g., gums, may often render the product with a sticky texture which is often undesirable. Thus, it is important to regulate viscosity of a food product without effecting a sticky mouth feel. Said sticky mouth feel, also described as gluey or slimy and can also be referred to as a “long texture”. Many of the additives currently used in the food industry as texture modifiers affect viscosity and contribute slimy “long” texture.
A wide array of texturizing, viscosity controlling and bulking agents has been developed for the food industry. Certain agents that are used by the food industry to control viscosity and texture are synthetic materials or natural derivatives that were modified by chemical means (starch derivatives, certain gums, etc.). An important group of said agents is the group of agents based on dietary fibers. Although there is no exact definition of dietary fiber, it is commonly acceptable that dietary fiber comprises as a main constituent plant cell wall material, mostly polysaccharides. Dietary fibers have good water holding capacity, which renders them good agents for viscosity and texture control of food. The properties of dietary fiber have been extensively reviewed, Selevendran et al, Advances in Food Research, (1987) vol. 31, pp. 117–209. The uses of various commercially available dietary-fiber-based additives as texturizing, viscosity and bulking agents is well known. Some of these agents such as pectin, guar gum and carrageenan when used in controlling the texture and viscosity, render the food with a slimy texture. There are foods wherein this slimy texture is an undesirable characteristic. Thus, there is a need to use agents which do not provide such a slimy texture. The source of the dietary fiber used as the agent has been found to be an important factor in determining the texture obtained when using them. U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,093 discloses a process for preparing dietary fiber compositions from vegetable pulp, which are useful as bulking and texturing agents. U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,489 more specifically discloses a dietary based composition as a bulking agent and a process for its preparation, wherein said composition does not provide a slimy texture and is prepared from sugar beet pulp. WO 97/48287 by the present applicant discloses a composition based on dietary fiber obtained from tomato pulp. However, the water holding capacity (hereinafter WHC) of the disclosed fiber composition is limited to about 1:12 (weight ratio). Hence, when using said composition as a texturizing agent or viscosity-controlling agent, relatively large amounts of said composition are required. This is a substantial disadvantage due to the negative effect such amounts of additive may have on the food product. The improvement of the WHC of the dietary fiber is advantageous. Said improvement, i.e. increasing the WHC of the fiber composition, allows for the use of less texturizing agent for achieving the desired texture and thus avoiding the aforementioned negative effect.
Certain food products (spreads, sauces, ketchup etc.) are plagued by water separation. The water separates from the formulation and forms an aqueous phase on top of the food product. This of course is an undesired effect which is termed as syneresis. It is important to prevent this phenomenon by certain additives that bind water to the food product and prevent its separation.
In view of the aforementioned there is a long felt need to develop a dietary fiber composition with improved water holding capacity which provides viscosity control and texture control, which overcomes the disadvantages of the dietary fiber compositions currently employed. Furthermore there is a long felt need for a food additive which inhibits or prevents syneresis.
It is therefore a purpose of the present invention to provide a dietary fiber composition with improved water holding capacity.
It is yet a further purpose of the present invention to provide a dietary fiber composition with improved water holding capacity which is a good texturizing and viscosity controlling agent.
A further purpose of the present invention is to provide a food additive which is effective inpreventing syneresis.
It is an additional purpose of the present invention to provide a novel bulking agent.
It is another purpose of the present invention to provide a process for preparing a dietary fiber composition derived from tomatoes, of improved WHC.
It is yet a further purpose of the present invention to provide a composition that overcomes the disadvantages of the known art.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.